Ex-youth pastor pleads guilty to child porn count

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

BEAUMONT, Texas (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a former youth pastor in East Texas has pleaded guilty to a child pornography charge.

Authorities say that when Trevion Lechay Ethridge was a youth pastor at a Newtown County church, he persuaded a minor to video record and photograph pornographic images and then send them to Ethridge by cellphone from November 2012 to March 2013.

Ethridge, from the city of Newtown, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to production of child pornography before a federal judge in Beaumont. Ethridge's guilty plea came in the middle of his trial.

The23-year-old Ethridge faces up to 30 years in prison. A sentencing date has not been scheduled.